You Have Encountered Love
by lesbianpapyrus
Summary: A tall, emotionally stunted skeleton and a lonely little ghost meet in the depths of Waterfall. Underswap AU. #5 of a series of Undertale ship drabbles for LGBT Pride Month.


Papyrus hadn't been to Waterfall in a long time.

He vaguely remembered passing through as a child with his baby brother, before deciding it was too dark and humid and he preferred the bright snow and dry, cold air of Snowdin.

Now he was back for the first time in years.

Not much had changed, except more houses had sprung up and more monsters seemed to scurry about. Papyrus sighed. It was quiet, but he'd come here to be alone, hoping to have a smoke without Sans, or anyone else, scolding him for stinking up the place and being unhealthy.

He wandered into a small hallway and came across a pen of live snails. Figuring he'd stumbled onto someone's property, he turned to leave, only to pause as his sharp hearing picked up a small sob. Tracing it back to the source, he came upon a tiny pink sniffling ghost in front of a large pink house. They hadn't noticed him.

Papyrus was a tired, depressed, and apathetic person, but he never could ignore someone in obvious pain like this. He reached out a hand. "Hey… you okay there?"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" the little ghost screamed as they spun around. "Oh no!" In panic, they phased right through the wall of the house next to them.

"No, wait, I just—! Gah, damn it," Papyrus swore as he leaned on the door. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just… saw you crying and thought I'd make sure you were okay. I-I'll go now."

"N-no, wait, p-please." The ghost came back through the wall. "I'm sorry, I-I just get anxious around p-people. I used t-to practice socializing with my cousin, wh-when they were here, b-but it's been a while…" They looked as though they might burst into tears. "Th-thank you for asking… hardly anyone d-does that anymore."

"Oh, uh… no problem." Papyrus wasn't really sure what to say. He struggled to find a shred of empathy within himself. "So… you're good then?"

The ghost tried and spectacularly failed to smile. "N-no, I'm not. My c-cousin… they just l-left me one day after th-they'd promised we'd always be together… and I haven't heard a-anything from them since a-and I've been so alone!" they cried harder than ever.

Papyrus, still tremendously confused but even more reluctant to abandon the ghost now, patted them on the back awkwardly. "Uh… hey… I'm sure it'll be okay. Maybe they're just busy, you know? I bet they'll come back soon."

The ghost buried their face in his sweatshirt. "No, y-you don't understand, it's b-been _years_ since they left. Th-they're _never_ coming back for me…"

"W-well, let's not think about that, then. What's your name?" Distraction. A classic Papyrus move to help him forget all his problems, even if only temporarily.

It seemed to work. The ghost managed to stop burning holes in Papyrus's sweatshirt with their acid tears and pulled away. "M—Happstablook. My name is Happstablook," they said without conviction.

"You, uh, seem kind of unsure about that," Papyrus noticed. "But okay. I'm Papyrus. I'm not from around here, I live over in Snowdin." Recalling the reason he'd come over here in the first place, he broke out his pack of weed and a lighter. "Want one?" Happstablook shook their head shyly. "Alright, your loss." Papyrus lit a cigarette and sat back against the house. "It really helps, you know. Worries are all gone, you feel like you're floating away…"

"I-I've been floating since I was born. I've never really found it helpful," Happstablook tried to joke.

Papyrus stared for a second, then burst into laughter. "Geez, I didn't even think of that one! You're good."

Happstablook brightened. "R-really?"

"Yeah! Keep practicing and maybe you can help me annoy my brother with them."

The little ghost giggled. "You s-seem nice, Papyrus. I like you."

"Thanks." Papyrus searched for something else to talk about. "You know, it's been years since I was in Waterfall. I have no idea what this place is like anymore. But, uh, you probably do, right? I mean, I assume you've been around? Maybe you could show me."

"Sh-show you? You want _me_ t-to show you?" Happstablook asked incredulously.

"Yeah, why not?" Papyrus shrugged. "Unless you're not up to it. Then I'll just wander around and get lost, I guess."

"Oh, no! I-I can show you. C-come on!" With surprising force, Happstablook grabbed Papyrus's hand with their own ghostly hand-like appendage and took off.

Over the course of an hour, or perhaps longer, Happstablook led Papyrus around Waterfall. They longer they walked, the more confident the ghost seemed to become. They spoke more, their stutter disappeared, and their spectral glow seemed to grow brighter. It was clear that they hadn't felt this comfortable in a long time.

Perhaps what was even more surprising was that Papyrus was genuinely enjoying it. Most of the time it was just so hard to feel _anything_ at all, yet he found himself fascinated by the amount of knowledge Happstablook seemed to have about their home, and the fact that they seemed to enjoy sharing that knowledge with him. As he watched the ghost blossom in confidence, he felt an odd, warm flutter in his chest, like his soul was waking up for the first time in ages.

They returned to Happstablook's house in comfortable silence. The ghost was almost bouncing along, and Papyrus himself felt a new spring in his step. This outing had been so refreshing. So different from the usual for both of them.

"Happstablook… this was actually pretty nice," Papyrus said. "Sans is probably wondering where I am now. I'd better get back to Snowdin. You should come by sometime. Our house isn't too far from the entrance to Waterfall." He smiled.

Happstablook smiled back. "Y-yeah! I'll see when I can spare some time away from the farm."

Papyrus did a casual two-finger salute. "See ya around, then." He turned to leave.

"Metta."

Papyrus turned back. "What?"

"M-Mettablook. Th-that's the name I've a-always wanted to have. And I like using he/him pronouns better, too," the ghost babbled, then immediately decided he'd said too much. "N-never mind, it d-doesn't matter."

Papyrus shrugged. "No, if that's what you want, that's cool with me. Mettablook. That's… a pretty sweet name, actually."

Mettablook looked as though he were going to cry happy tears. "Thanks, P-Papyrus."

The skeleton saluted again. "No problem. See ya later, Mettablook."

The two parted ways, neither of them feeling quite the same as they had been before they met.

The warm feeling in Papyrus's chest only seemed to grow.

The genuine smile on Mettablook's face couldn't seem to drop.

That day, in the deepest, wettest part of the Underground, a small spark had ignited.


End file.
